Edited- My apologies, apparently the forums don't like my tables; they aren't easy to read
I'm having similar issues, myself- on 2 batches.
Here's the info:
Honey's Brown Sugar Cyser
Ingredients:
42.3 oz Clover Honey
11 oz Light Brown Sugar
1.75 gal Apple Juice
Pectic enzyme
Yeast energizer
Lalvin 71-B 1122 (5 grams) 14% abv tolerance
Heated the honey and cider and stirred til the honey was dissolved. Added brown sugar to hit desired gravity (was aiming for potential alcohol of around 18% as this was for my old lady and she likes cloyingly sweet booze).
Fermentation was fairly rapid, it was pretty much done in 10 days.
After 2 weeks in primary, was racked, taste-tested, back sweetened with honey/brown sugar syrup, and let sit for a week in the cold. I added isinglass as an afterthought, let it sit in the cold again for a week. Dropped crystal clear pretty quick. Moved it inside to a carboy, and was encouraged to let it bottle age... so after another week in the carboy, I bottled.
Noticed a fairly strong yeast flavor, but it might have been because I was tasting cyser/wine/mead that had been really close to the lees.
Date 2/26/11 2/27/11 2/28/11 3/2/11 3/13/11
Temp Unknown 23ºC 22ºC 21.5ºC 20ºC
SG Unknown 1.125 1.068 1.048 1.004
SG Corrected Unknown 1.126 1.069 1.049 1.0049
ABV 0.00% X 7.80+X% 10.40+X% 16.10+X%
Second batch:
My First Mead
Ingredients:
6 LB Honey
2 Gal Mineral Water
1 Pack Lalvin 71B 1122
2.5 LB Dextrose (simple syrup)
5 Floz Grape Juice - didn't have energizer, was encouraged to use "something... ANYTHING" to help the poor little yeasties...
Made must... racked when fermentation stopped. Added isinglass, cold-crashed, waited 2 weeks. Noticed deposits of sediment, brought the carboy inside, thinking I'd be bottling soon. Can't tell if it's dropped totally clear, as it's an amber color. Certainly, I can see objects through it.
Waited another week, little improvement. Waited another week. Still very little, if any, improvement. Racked, out of fear of the yeast flavor. Had a taste-test. Flavor's thin, slightly sweet, and yeasty. Pretty strong, too. I might infuse it with fruit, if I can get rid of that yeast flavor.
Date 2/16/11 2/22/11 2/24/11 2/25/11 2/26/11 2/27/11 2/28/11
Temp 38.5ºC 65ºF 22ºC 70ºF 19ºC 21ºC 21ºC
SG 1.082 1.03 1.02 1.024 1.02 1.014 1.0126
SG Corrected 1.088 1.0304 1.021 1.025 1.0207 1.0151 1.0137
ABV 0% 7.70% 8.80% 10.30% 10.90% 11.60% 13.10%
Added Dextrose 8 oz 1 LB 1 LB
Temp 22ºC 21ºC
New SG 1.034 1.024
New SG Corrected 1.035 1.0251
FINAL GRAVITY: 1.002, abv: ~16%